Boys could be so obtuse sometimes.
“You know what Carly’s doing, right?” When Cole gave her a blank look, Bri continued. “She’s trying to make you jealous. She’s hoping that if you see her flirting with someone else you’ll march over there and sweep her away.”
He looked horrified. “But, I’m not even remotely interested in her. I thought I’d made that clear.”
“She thinks this is you playing hard to get. It’s twisted, I know, but this is how she thinks.”
“Oh, man, how do I get out of this one?”
“Well, the next time she, um...propositions you,” Bri couldn’t hold back her chuckle. Cole gave her a pointed look. “Sorry.” She sobered. “Next time, maybe you should just spell it all out for her. Tell her that you don’t like her, and there is absolutely no way she’s ever getting any action!” She burst out laughing again.
“Hey! This is serious!” Cole admonished her, but was quickly laughing himself. “Okay, enough talking about Psycho Chick.” He paused as Bri raised an eyebrow at him. “What? I call them like I see them. Anyway, I didn’t come all this way to talk about her. I came to talk about you.”
“Okay,” she replied warily. “What about me?”
“Well, how about we start with the basics. How old are you?”
“Seventeen.”
“A senior this year?” Bri nodded. “And, when is your birthday?”
“December 21st.”
“Ah, a solstice baby. Do you live around here?”
“Yeah, I actually just moved here last month. I live just up in Santa Monica.”
“Get out! Me too! So, where did you live before you moved here?”
“Well, I grew up in Phoenix, but I moved here from Dallas. We lived there for about four and a half years, before my dad got transferred out here with work.”
“So, how do you like California so far?”
“It’s nice. I love the weather and the ocean. In fact, the one thing I insisted on when I found out we were moving here was that we lived close enough that I could walk to the beach.”
“Nice. So I take it you’ll be going to Santa Monica High, too?”
“Yes. You, too?”
Cole nodded looking out at the ocean.
“Cool. It’ll be nice to know at least one person there, to see a familiar face,” Bri smiled at him. A look passed over Cole’s face, but quickly disappeared. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought it might have been regret. Before she could say anything, he turned back to her.
“Well, I’d better get back,” he thumbed behind him to his stand. “Besides, I don’t want your psycho cousin coming after me,” he smiled jokingly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “See you, Bri.” And he was gone.
Bri had only a few moments to ponder Cole’s abrupt disappearance, when Carly came running down the beach.
“Bri, we have to get out of here. Like, now!”
“Why?” She was becoming alarmed at Carly’s agitation.
“Well, let’s just say one of those guys got a little too friendly, and I smacked him. I don’t want to give him the chance to come down here and return the favor. Now, move!”
Bri rolled her eyes as she stood and gathered up their things. This was Carly’s classic MO. She caused a mess of trouble, and then ran away. Bri glanced at the guys up the beach, and sure enough, they were all glaring at her and Carly. Yep, definitely time to go.
As the girls passed Cole, Bri smiled and waved goodbye. Carly didn’t even spare him a parting glance, as she rushed from the beach. Cole waved back, and the girls hurried to the car.
“Do me a favor, Carly,” Bri begged when both girls were safely in the car, and on their way home. “The next time you decide to do something irresponsible, stupid, and potentially dangerous to impress a boy, leave me out of it!”
Chapter 3
Carly did not take rejection well. Not that she accepted Cole’s rejection as actual rejection. She believed he was purposely dragging things out, trying to maintain the upper hand in their fictitious relationship, and she was furious. So on Wednesday, she dragged Bri back to Venice Beach for one last shot at some Cole lovin’.
Though, it wasn’t as if Bri hadn’t tried to dissuade her. She had done everything she could think of to keep her from going back, but Carly would have none of it. She was a girl possessed. She told Bri she had one last sure-fire plan, she was certain wouldn’t fail. So, with great reluctance, and after exorbitant amounts of whining, begging, and threatening (this from her parents), Bri drove Carly to the beach.